The Toronto Blue Jays Payroll In 2015 + Contracts Going Forward

Alex Anthopoulos had done a nice job of assembling his club with players from other teams. To construct a team with this type of caliber, it can be traced all the way back to the Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion brilliant extensions, while the Jays GM were able to break free from albatross contracts from Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. He is close to the finish line, but with a flailing Canadian Dollar, and his many guys with 1 or 2 years left on the club signed, he must go one step further to gun for a championship.

What a difference from just a few seasons ago. Toronto is on the cusp of contention, and is yielding the best club they have probably since their 1993 World Series run. The payroll has crept up incrementally – and they are in the top 10 of the game.

The only Canadian franchise is estimated to have a budget of $127.3 MIL this year. This would slate them 10th in the Majors. The clubs ahead of them include: Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Nats, Angels, Giants, Rangers and Tigers. This total still only puts them 3rd in their own Division.

Having signed Russell Martin to a 5 YR deal worth $82 MIL jumps the teams salary big time, but one could argue he will help the team lower its ERA.

For a Year to Year Breakdown For all of the Jays players salaries please visithere.

Jose Bautista hit 54 HRs in 2010. Before the 2011 year, AA got him to agree to a 5 YR Deal worth $64 MIL. All he is done is have 2nd most HR since that timeframe. Only trailing Miguel Cabrera in those years, despite losing several games to injury in 2012 and 2013. With a $14 MIL Team Option for the Jays in 2016, it wlll call for a total of $78 MIL pact stretched over 6 Years. An absolute steal for the amount of production Joey Bats has provided.

The task at hand is not an enviable one for Alex Anthopoulos. You have to give this man credit for what he has been able to do in building this team.

The decision to give extensions to Jose Bautista (5 YRs/$64 MIL) and Edwin Encarnacion (3 YRs/$29 MIL) guaranteed came on the heels of their what were career seasons. They have since backed their production up, and have given their GM the ability to acquire nice talent.

Edwin Encarnacion leads the Majors with 6 multi HR efforts in 2014. EE has clubbed 112 HRs and driven in 312 RBI over the last 3 years. His HRs trails Cabrera by just 1 jack over the last 3 years. His mark was also equaled by Chris Davis from 2012 – 2014. Encarnacion is incredibly underpaid. The 32 Year Old RHB will earn $10 MIL in 2015 – and the club will exercise a $10 MIL Team Option in 2016.

Jose Reyes and Mark Buerhle really start to cost a lot of cash beginning this season, and that is what the Marlins did to have the front end so cost effective. The SS will make $22 MIL in 2015 – while the aging LHP will draw in $20 MIL.

AA was smart enough to backload Martin’s pact, so they can at least pick up some pieces this year if need be. You have to think he will try to trade Dioner Navarro‘s $5 MIL contract this year to save some more money.

R.A. Dickey. Buehrle Bautista and EE are all on the last year of their contracts. Joey Bats and Encarnacion are grossly underpaid and $14 MIL and $10 MIL this year respectively – and they have the same totals for Team Options in 2016. Both are no-breainers to pick up

Our website has admonished the Jays brass for not delving into the Free Agent pitching market in 2013, 2014 and now again in 2015. The time for them to have gone for it is the present. With the injury to Marcus Stroman now prevalent, it is time to rethink this one more time.

We have also talked at length about the Canadian Dollar trending downward. I highly doubt there will be another year to put it all together like thus campaign ever again.

Mark Buehrle has been a consummate professional in his 2 years with the Jays. with a workman like 405 IP in his 2 campaigns, he holds a 25 – 20 record, with a 3.77 ERA and 1.351 WHIP in a tough AL East. The 36 Year Old LHP will earn $20 MIL this season – and will be a Free Agent after the year.

Toronto is also a front-runner town, and will flock to the ballpark if the team is in contention. I would mortgage every spare penny they can, and also look for more, to pry Cole Hamels out of Philadelphia. The Jays of all clubs should know that prospects don’t pan out on a high rate. I mean how does the haul for Roy Halladay look right now?

The club also has Josh Donaldson for a cheap rate of $4.3 MIL in 2015, where he will double his salary for 2016, and could threaten all time record Arbitration cases, with his contracts for 2017 and 2018.

Josh Donaldson is a ‘Super 2’ ARB player. As such he will have 3 more years of Arbitration left from 2016 – 2018. With his rate of offense and defense, expect the club to ante up bout $40 – $45 MIL in the 3 years following this campaign.

Another reason to prompt the management for a deal is the pending loss of Buehrle, and the club may also give themselves an out to Buyout R.A. Dickey – instead of paying him $12 MIL in 2016, and now with Stroman recovering from Tommy John Surgery, who exactly is going to toe the Starting Rotation hill for next year?

lets face it, there is not an actual clamoring of players willing to head north of the USA to play as Free Agents. The most notable FA signings over the last few years have been Martin and Melky Cabrera (who was coming off the whole steroid scandal with the fake website).

This gives further credence that the Jays GM has done a fantastic assembling a roster of this talent, based on the guys he was given. Even know, there are not many guys on the club in which were drafted by Toronto.

Pitchers Aaron Sanchez, Aaron Loup and Brett Cecil all have played exclusively with Toronto in their time as well. Daniel Norris is a Jays Draft pick from 2011, that may start the year with the rotation now that Stroman is hurt. Drew Hutchison is the last of the Jays draftees on the 25 man roster that was drafted by the club

So based on these aspects, the team’s payroll is not aided very much by entry-level contracts.

Next year’s payroll is already sitting at $114.3 MIL. The good news is that only Buehrle may leave the squad as an outright Free Agent.

I would trade Daniel Norris and Aaron Sanchez in a package for Cole Hamels any day. I have said many times that a team in the AL East could really separate themselves if they landed an ace. Toronto also has to worry about the Red Sox pulling off another deal for a #1 player.

Once 2017 hits, only Jose Reyes and Russell Martin have contracts, which equals $42 MIL. Yet another example how they can trade for a Starting Pitcher this year. By bring in Hamels it also helps out the 2016 season too.

This is different to if they acquired one of the pending Free Agents this winter like Johnny Cueto or Jeff Samardzija (should the White Sox struggle this year.)

Get out in front of it Toronto. Go for it now while you can. Heaven forbid the dollar keeps plunging – and you will never have another talented bunch of guys like this.

Toronto is the only team in the MLB not in the USA. With that comes foreign currency. For the years of 1990 – 2007, the Canadian Dollar was hovering around the 70 cents mark for the duration. The last economic crash in the USA – had the dollar at par for the better part of the last 7 years, including once reaching $1.10 for every George Washington bill in America. The average for the exchange rate has been in the mid 90 cents range. The loonie has been in a nosedive since 2015 kicked in – and now it is around 78 cents for every US Dollar. As it progressively gets worse, it will become more apparent that the brass won’t be able to sign Free Agents. They are ready to win right now, but the window is 2015 – 2016.

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